Falling for My Ex’s Mafia Dad — Episode 61
Fay read Ivan’s warning while Kent checked the apartment windows. Grant knew where she lived, and Lorenzo had supplied the address. The betrayal surprised her less than the realization that her father had moved from legal control to physical danger without hesitation.
The Victoria cassette remained inside a bank vault, but Grant could not know that. A duplicate sat in Fay’s desk as bait, its audio subtly watermarked by Mara’s forensic team. Anyone who copied it would reveal the route of transmission.
Kent wanted Fay moved to the estate. She refused to let an imminent threat erase the independence she had just defended in court. Instead, they activated the building’s security plan and called Mara, Daniel, and local police outside Grant’s task force.
Kent accepted her decision but stayed until the danger passed. He positioned himself near the hallway rather than ordering Fay away from her own door. The difference between protection and possession lived in small choices made under pressure.
At six in the morning, the fire alarm sounded. No smoke appeared on the apartment monitors, yet tenants began entering the stairwell. Fay recognized the same tactic used at Ivan’s masquerade: official safety systems turned into controlled movement.
She called building management and learned the signal originated from a manual station two floors below. Kent told her to remain inside while he checked the corridor. Fay agreed because the door and cameras offered real defensive advantage, not because he commanded her.
The hallway camera failed. A man wearing a firefighter’s jacket approached with his face hidden behind breathing equipment. He knocked and announced a mandatory evacuation, but the radio on his shoulder carried a federal channel rather than emergency dispatch.
Fay triggered the silent alarm. Kent waited beside the door until the impostor used a master key. When the lock turned, Kent pulled him inside and disarmed him before a second man fired from the stairwell.
The bullet struck the doorframe. Fay crawled behind the kitchen island and used her phone to guide police toward the correct floor. Kent forced the first attacker down but could not reach the shooter without crossing open space.
The second man threw a smoke canister into the apartment. Beneath the haze, someone entered through the fire escape Fay had voluntarily shown Kent. Grant had learned the route from the building plans Lorenzo submitted with his competency petition.
Fay heard the desk drawer open. She moved through the bedroom and saw a gloved hand take the duplicate cassette. Rather than confront the intruder, she photographed the distinctive scar above his collar.
The thief escaped across the neighboring roof as police reached the floor. The first attacker swallowed poison before questioning, repeating Grant’s pattern of disposable operatives. The stairwell shooter vanished among evacuated residents.
Kent found Fay beside the open desk. When she said the cassette was bait, anger and admiration collided in his face. She had concealed the plan from him because his genuine reaction made the theft convincing.
He accused her of using herself as bait without adequate backup. Fay said the apartment, police notification, and tracking watermark were the backup. Risk had been calculated, not surrendered to chance.
Mara arrived and traced the duplicate’s signal. The file entered a private evidence server registered to Grant’s task force, then copied immediately to an Alden corporate account. Grant and Lorenzo were no longer merely sharing information; they were coordinating evidence.
The scar photograph produced another connection. The thief was a retired marshal who had transported Ivan after his first undercover assignment. Ivan had known him for years.
Fay called the detention center and requested a privileged visit through Mara. Officials claimed Ivan had been moved during the night, though no transfer order appeared in the public system.
Kent believed Grant had reclaimed his asset. Fay feared something worse: Ivan might have returned willingly after learning Kent killed his father. His break from the operation could have been another performance.
Daniel reported that Lorenzo had called an emergency clinic-board session for noon. The stolen cassette would likely be presented as evidence that Fay concealed criminal information from directors.
Then the building intercom crackled. Ivan’s voice filled the apartment, recorded during the masquerade: “If Fay will not leave Kent willingly, we will make her watch the law take him away.”